This Week in Albany

A total of 518 bills passed both houses of the legislature and have not yet been sent to the Governor, including the vast majority of CSEA’s priority bills.

Stay tuned for updates on these bills as they become available over the summer and fall.

Federal Health Care Update

While Congress was on recess for the July 4th holiday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) continued to work on finding the 50 votes needed to pass a health care reform bill, now being called the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA).

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis showed that the version of the legislation being discussed prior to the recess would result in 20 million fewer Americans receiving health care coverage while severely cutting back on Medicaid funding. The bill has received opposition from both the right and left sides of the political spectrum, with some Senators arguing that the bill does not go far enough to repeal the Affordable Care Act while others argue that the Medicaid cuts would be devastating to states and local governments.

It was reported this week that the Senate has sent two amended versions of the legislation to the CBO for a new “score.” Senate leadership maintains that it wants a vote on the bill before the August recess.

Con Con Fact

New York State already has a legislative process to amend the state constitution that doesn’t cost taxpayers anything. A recent example is legalizing casino gaming in 2013.

Register to Vote

The deadline to register to vote in the September 12 Primary is August 18